Simon Cowell told the Hollywood Reporter last night after the Top 12 Results Show that 10 million votes were cast in the show’s first voting round. Kid group, InTENsity were eliminated.
Ten million is a lot,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, noting that there were no technical glitches or hiccups during Wednesday’s window, which introduced Twitter voting for the first time.
Shirley Halperin, who also covers American Idol extensively, attempts to do a comparative analysis of the two shows. Idol Season 1’s first voting round brought in 3.3 million votes. That’s in the days before text voting.
She posts a list of the voting totals for all of the Idol finales. She notes that X Factor has a ways to go to catch up with big brother, American Idol.
Season 1 (Kelly Clarkson, winner): 15.5 million
Season 2 (Ruben Studdard): 24 million
Season 3 (Fantasia Barrino): 65 million
Season 4 (Carrie Underwood): 37 million
Season 5 (Taylor Hicks): 63.5 million
Season 6 (Jordin Sparks): 74 million
Season 7 (David Cook): 97 million
Season 8 (Kris Allen): 100 million
Season 9 (Lee DeWyze): unreleased, but the previous week’s vote count had come in around 47 million*
Season 10 (Scotty McCreery): 122 million
